


We're Alive and Crying With Joy

by Renee_Mariposa



Series: TROS alternate endings [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Genre: Canon Universe, F/M, Fix-It, Happily Ever After, M/M, cross-posted from tumblr, rocks fall Ben lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:34:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22658647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renee_Mariposa/pseuds/Renee_Mariposa
Summary: As soon as her battered ship touches dirt and the cockpit opens, Rey’s panicked shouting cuts through the chaos on the base. “I need a medic here! I need...!”
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Finn & Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Rose Tico, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: TROS alternate endings [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630099
Comments: 7
Kudos: 37





	We're Alive and Crying With Joy

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this to help myself feel better.
> 
> Some essential assumptions for this fixit:  
> Kylo/Ben was the First Order spy, not Hux -  
> Rey managed to drag Ben back to her ship after he brought her back, he isn't dead just zonked out -  
> Finn was Stormtrooper Moses? Jesus? and led the stormtroopers in a rebellion against the higher-ups and got the defectors off the ships before they were blown up -  
> Only Finn and Rey have seen Kylo without the mask and Poe never met Ben Solo when they were younger, so Poe doesn't know that Ben and Kylo are the same person

As soon as her battered ship touches dirt and the cockpit opens, Rey’s panicked shouting cuts through the chaos on the base. “I need a medic here! I need...!”

Poe himself is reeling - shaking with adrenaline, head spinning with the unbelievable reality of _we’re alive! we’re alive!_ \- he needs to find Finn, he needs to...Rey is cut all to hell, dried blood all over her, and looks like she’s barely standing up. He reaches her just as she stumbles - he can’t believe she’s here, they’re all still here, this isn’t a dream - she’s heavy and he almost drops her. She’s only out for one moment, and when she comes back her eyes refocus on him slowly. “Poe?” she slurs, sounding bewildered.

“Rey!” he answers, unable to look away from her face - something he thought he’d never see again - shaking her a little in his arms, unable to voice anything else, unable to think over the din of celebration. Her brain comes back online and she grips a fistful of his jumpsuit - “I need a medic!” she panics, eyes wide, shaking him as if he needs to be convinced.

“Yeah, sure, just hold on!” he says, preparing himself to carry her to medical on his own to feet if he has to, when she shakes him again. 

“No, not me!” She gripes, somehow tugging them around to face her relic of a ship. “He’s in the gunner’s seat - he’s wounded! _Please,_ Poe,” she implores, looking at him with a silent plea and he doesn’t really understand why, “I need your help.”

It’s on the tip of his tongue to ask what’s going on when the medical team finally arrives. It takes five of them to get the wounded man out of the seat - he’s a big guy - and if Poe thought Rey looked bad, he was clearly mistaken. There’s a tense moment when they’re hooking up the scanners - Rey is trembling with the effort to remain somewhat standing, barely breathing in palpable fear - “We have a heartbeat!” one of the paramedics shouts, to be heard over everything else - Rey nearly passes out again with what Poe can only describe as sheer relief - and the entourage cuts back into the crowd to rush the wounded man to sickbay.

“Who is he?” Poe asks her.

“I’ll tell you when I can hear myself think,” she says, avoiding his eyes. “We need to find Finn,” she says, gripping his jacket again. “And Rose. Where’s the General? Is Chewie okay?”

“One thing at a time,” Poe decides, visually scanning the crowd in what feels like building desperation. He needs to see Finn, needs to see that he’s alive and well, needs to see him smile and laugh again. “Let’s go find him.”

\-----

Rey only agrees to go to sickbay herself after visiting Leia’s deathbed and crying wearily, gripping Rose’s hand tightly the whole time. Rose remains while Finn and Poe escort Rey to the medics, but Rey stops them right before the three of them enter.

“I need to tell you something,” she says to them, calmly. She’s dead on her feet but grimly resolved. “I need to tell you who I brought back with me.”

Poe blinks. “Who is it?” he asks. She doesn’t answer immediately - she’s afraid, his brain supplies. “You can tell us,” he says gently. Finn nods in agreement, confused as to what’s going on but willing to listen.

“His name is Ben,” Rey says finally, visibly unsure of what to say. “He saved my life. More than once.” She searches their faces. “He’s very important to me.”

Into the silence, Finn jokes, “You had a cute boyfriend this whole time and you didn’t tell us?” and Rey frowns fondly at him, the tension among them broken.

“The jury’s definitely out on _cute,_ ” Poe tells Finn in a stage whisper, causing Rey to frown at him, too. Poe restarts their three-legged march into sickbay. “He looks like death chewed him up and spat him out. He ain’t winning any beauty contests today.”

He can tell when Finn sees the wounded man - Finn stops dead in his tracks and nearly causes all three of them to wipe out. When Poe recovers his balance, he finds Rey gripping Finn’s shirt imploringly with all of her meagre strength.

“He’s the _spy,_ Finn,” she says to him with an intensity Poe doesn’t understand. “He left the First Order _just_ like you did.”

“Yeah, but...!” Finn protests, just now regaining his ability to speak.

Rey shakes him once, visibly shaking with the effort to remain standing, and Finn’s gaze snaps to her. Her face is deathly pale. “ _Please,_ Finn. He saved my life.”

Finn studies her, makes his decision. “Okay,” he says finally. Rey sighs with relief. “For _you,_ ” Finn gripes, and Rey almost smiles a little.

“Is he a stormtrooper?” Poe asks in confusion as they finally get Rey to a chair.

“Not exactly,” Finn mutters, and Rey very obviously elbows him. Poe tamps down a fission of irritation.

“Well, he can be processed with the former ‘troopers once he’s feeling better,” Poe decides, waiting for one of the medics to show. It’ll take some work and money, but they’ll get some doctors specializing in brainwashing to the base. The medic shows up, gets Rey some bacta patches, tells Rey to get some sleep, allows her to remain in sickbay to be near this Ben guy. She sits down on the hospital bed and, right as they’re leaving, Poe sees her take his hand and grip it tightly.

Poe and Finn walk back outside, hand in hand, to the roaring celebration. The defected stormtroopers are mostly helmet-less now, staring around in a daze, as if overwhelmed and not really sure how to celebrate. Looking out at the people he’s been chosen to command, the future unspools before Poe: rescuing the defectors from their brainwashing, tallying up what their people know how to do, sending out diplomats, building alliances, building a future. 

Together, he and Finn step out of the hallway into the bright, bright evening.

**Author's Note:**

> During the "---" break everyone hugs and cries like they do in the movie except there’s an actual gay kiss between Finn and Poe. I didn't write it due to time constraints.
> 
> I just want a happy ending for this damn movie. I am so tired of redemptive violence. I thought long and hard about how the Resistance might be able to forgive Ben and this was my first thought (after almost two years of thinking, since I started contemplating it after The Last Jedi and I fought with my sister about it yesterday).


End file.
